As part of the countdown to the 2012-13 college basketball season, Sporting News takes an analytical look at second-ranked Louisville:

REASONS TO BELIEVE

Strength up the middle. The two most important positions in basketball are point guard and center. And what does Louisville have? A veteran point guard who has shown flashes of greatness and a developing center who is pushing toward excellence. Point guard Peyton Siva was dominant during the Cardinals’ stunning March run to the Final Four. Center Gorgui Dieng emerged as a dominant defensive force. A team that has these two positions covered is formidable.

Wayne Blackshear is in one piece. We saw only a brief glimpse of him last season, most of which he missed with a shoulder injury. But Blackshear is the sort of Grade-A talent Louisville has lacked recently. He showed in his Final Four appearance against Kentucky that he can be a dangerous deep threat, and he’s a big (6-5, 230), physical wing who will enhance the Cardinals’ perimeter defense.

The coach running the show. When Rick Pitino has average teams, he makes them good. Good teams, he makes great—like last year. So what happens when he has experience, talent and depth?

REASONS TO WORRY

The conundrum that is Russ Smith. He can drop 20 in a half if need be. But he’s a competitive kid who’ll want a significant role, and the presence of Siva at the point and bigger, less volatile wings in Blackshear, Kevin Ware and Luke Hancock might prevent Smith from getting the playing time he wants.

Enough room for everyone? Montrezl Harrell might be even more gifted than incumbent power forward Chane Behanan. Smith, Hancock and Ware might have to split 40 minutes. Can Pitino make everyone happy? He did manage to keep everyone more or less together on the 1996 Kentucky squad, and this team doesn’t have that overabundance of talent.

The press’ success on the big stage. Louisville spends a considerable part of its season employing full-court pressure. But pressing is less effective the deeper a team advances in the NCAA Tournament because opponents that make it that far are, simply, better. Does pressing ultimately rob a team of time to perfect its half-court defense?

MY VIEW

Coach Rick Pitino: “Last year was really a big surprise because we were decimated by injuries. I was constantly using the New York Giants as something we could model after. They had their struggles, (but) look what happened—they came together at the right time, and they won the Super Bowl. Now we’re healthy, we’re deep, and we’re better. We survived all those problems last year. We hardly ever had a full practice. We hardly ever went full court. Now, we’re a year wiser. We’re a much more confident basketball team. That’s probably the one thing we talk about at least once a week. Keep our hunger, keep our humility, and we’re going to be a very good team. If we lose one of the two, we won’t be. I’ve been preaching that.”

THEIR VIEW

An opposing Big East coach’s take: “I think their recruiting has kind of caught up now to who they are as far as a program: Wayne Blackshear, Montrezl Harrell. Their talent level is scary. Plus having Rick Pitino as a coach, that helps. Peyton Siva is lightning-fast. If he shot the ball well, he’d be one of the best guards in the country. And without that, he’s one of the hardest to game-plan against because he’s so fast and so good with the pick-and-roll. They don’t run around crazy in their pressure. The way they attack you is more to wear you down, force you into mistakes and unforced errors as opposed to running around and trapping and forcing you to throw the ball around. The way they do it is effective. I don’t see it hurting them in the long run, especially with the way (they fall) back into the zone.”

IMPACT NEWCOMER

PF Montrezl Harrell, freshman. When Harrell starts tearing up the court for Louisville, Virginia Tech’s administration is not going to feel so great about its dismissal of Seth Greenberg. Harrell signed with Tech and was eager to play for Greenberg but looked elsewhere after the coaching change. Harrell blew away those involved with the USA Basketball Under-18 squad; he shot 80 percent and averaged 4.2 rebounds in 12.4 minutes per game.

FIVE BIGGEST GAMES

Dec. 15 at Memphis. The Tigers are one of the few teams that can challenge the Cardinals in terms of talent and depth, and Memphis fans adore this rivalry.

Dec. 29 vs. Kentucky. It isn’t often that Louisville is dealt the better hand, but the Cardinals are more experienced, deeper and in the same talent neighborhood and will be playing at home.

Jan. 19 vs. Syracuse. The Orange are one of the few obvious challengers for this year’s Big East title. The Cardinals would love to send them off to the ACC with a loss.

Feb. 9 at Notre Dame. For one more season at least, Notre Dame reigns as the hardest place to visit in the Big East.

March 4 vs. Cincinnati. The Big East was flat wrong to allow TV executives to force two Syracuse-Louisville matchups when the Cardinals and Bearcats represent the long-term core of the league.

BOTTOM LINE

In determining a No. 1 team, Sporting News considered Indiana and Louisville and found that the primary difference is that Louisville has a lot of very good players and IU has an obviously great one. But “very good” has won the national title in recent years, most notably with Duke in 2010. And it’s not inconceivable that Blackshear could turn out to be special, or that Siva or Dieng could continue evolving in that direction. The Cardinals have all the depth, size and experience necessary to contend for the NCAA title.